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Saturday, April 9, 2016

Supplemental Post # 4: Melissa McCarthy and Arnold

I have a Hulu+ subscription and if anyone else has one, you know that they don't have a lot of ads to run and you tend to see the exact same ones over and over again. A few weeks ago I was ready to throw my iPad out the window because I was watching a trailer for "The Boss" starring Melissa McCarthy for the five billionth time.

I remember thinking...this is the same actress, same character, just a different movie. My mind was kicking up memories of the trailers for The Heat, Spy, Tammy, and Identity Thief. To be fair, I've only ever seen The Heat because it had Sandra Bullock and I like Sandra Bullock. But Melissa McCarthy was loud and obnoxious and to be honest, I'm just not a fan of it. All of the trailers and synopses for the other movies made it seem like her character was also loud and obnoxious so I passed.

Then we read in last week's readings about Arnold essentially playing himself and playing the same character over and over and I made the connection between what I thought of him and what I thought of Melissa McCarthy. I think their bodies and the way people perceive them because of their bodies is kinda similar, but for different reasons.

Arnold is large, strong, a force to be reckoned with, and made to be an action star to showcase his strengths (literally). Melissa McCarthy, as a plus size actress (please don't be offended anyone) has a strong presence and strong personality. She is also known for her physical comedy, so her movies play to those strengths.

I think it's fascinating that two people who are so incredibly different with different body types in different genres can be so similar. People are drawn to their movies to see them for what they're known for and what people are expecting. For Arnold, they want to see that chiseled, strong body do something amazing. And for Melissa, they want to see that, well, not chiseled body, do something hilarious.